Door-operating mechanism.



H. T. ANDERSON.

DOOR OPERATING MECHANISM APPLICATION FILED NOV, 25. 19M.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

INVENTOR. J a

WITNESSES f/fZn FWJ H. T. ANDERSON.

DOOR OPERATING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 25, 1914.

Patented Nov. 16, 1915.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

FIG. 3,

.5 Al A A l J l l III INVENTOR.

coLuMmA PLANOGRAPH CO..WA.SHINOTON. D c

Flsys WITNESSES.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HARRY T. ANDERSON, or BUTLER, PENNSYLVANIA, ASsIeNoR To STANDARD STEEL cAR COMPANY, or PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION or PENNSYL- VANIA.

Application filed November 25, 1914.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, HARRY T. ANDnRsoN, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Butler, in the county of Butler and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Door-Operating Mechanism; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention relates to door Operating mechanism.

The invention has relation more particularly to the type of door operating mechanism'which is illustrated and described in Letters Patent of the United States, No. 1,064,879, granted to me June 17, 1913, in which a movable latch is carried by the door at the outer end, with a winding-chain connected to the latch whereby the latch is drawn forward and supported by the winding-shaft when the door is closed, so as to relieve the weight on the chain and support the door directly on the shaft.

In the present invention, the latch has a rack-face which is engaged by a pinion on the winding-shaft which is of a common construction now in use so that the last movement of the latch is accomplished by the engagement of the pinion with the rackface, and whereby a positive movement is imparted to the latch in unwinding to start the operation of opening the door.

In the patent referred to, the latch-member moves in acasing having platforms at different levels with a roller interposed between said latch member and the upper platform of said casing, and a roller interposed between the upper face of said latchmember and the lower face of the door. It is found, however, in practice that these rollers are liable to skew when the door is opened or closed, and the said rollers consequently become jammed in the casing so as to prevent the proper operation of the device.

One of the objects of my invention is to so mount these rollers as to prevent this skewing, and also to provide for the adjustment of the toothed pinion on the shaft to bring it into proper alinement with the latch-bar.

In the drawing, Figure 1 is a plan view of a portion of a bottom of a. railway car showing mv invention applied thereto; Fig. 2 is an enlarged section on the line 2-2,

Specification of Letters Patent.

DOOR-OPERATING MECHANISM.

Patented Nov. 16, 1915.

Serial No. 874.013.

Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a section on the line 33, Fig. 1; Fig. dis an enlarged plan view of a portion of the winding shaft and portion of the car door; Fig. 5 is an enlarged view of a portion of the section shown in Fig. 3; Fig. 6 is an end view of the latch and its casing; and Fig. 7 is a section on the line 7-7, Fig. 5.

In the drawing, the numeral 2 designates the bottom of a suitable car provided with openings closed by the doors 3. These doors may be arranged in pairs on each side of the center-sill of a car, said door being hinged by suitable hinges 5 to the car-body. Each door is provided with one or more movable latch-members 6 adapted to move back and forth in the casing 7. The latchmember is supported at its rear end within the casing 7 upon the roller 8, which rests upon the bottom-plate? The bolt 9 forms a stop for the roller and controls the outward movement of the latch-member 6. The outer end of the latch-member is bifurcated to form the two arms 10 and 11, which project out beyond the door. The chain 13 is connected to the ring 14 of the arm 11, and said chain is adapted to wrap around the winding-shaft 15.

The arm 10 has the rack-face 16, which is adapted to engage the toothed-pinion 17 on the winding-shaft 15. The winding-shaft is provided with the opening 18, and the pinion 17 has the collar 19 with staggered openings 20 formed therein adapted to register with the opening 18 in the windingshaft, and the bolt 21 in passing through said openings secures the collar 19 in position. By having the staggered openings as above, the position of the pinion 17 may be readily adjusted so that the pinion is brought into proper alinement with the rack-face 16 of the arm 10 So that said rackface will fully engage said pinion, and so bring the wear on all parts of said pinion equally.

A roller 23 is interposed between the upper face of the latch-member and the' door to provide for the easy movement of the latch-member in moving in and out.

The rollers 8 and 23 are provided with the annular grooves 24., and said grooves are engaged by the ribs 25 on the latchmember. This engagement of the ribs 25 with the rollers prevent said rollers from skewing and becoming jammed in the easing in advancing or withdrawing the latchmember. It must be'remembered that in :thB-f case of railway-cars carryingore, coalorfother'like material, these'do'ors are subjected to severe, usage, and when the winding-shaft is turned to lower the" door,

7 just asjsoon as the rack-face of the; latchmember *disengages the pinion 17 the weight of the contents of th e;car causes,the door to swing back with great violence, and unless the rollers are guided properly, this sudden swingjis liableto skew said, rollers and cause them tojam so that the door is prevented from opening vproperly. By my invention by the employment of the. ribs 25 engaging the annular grooves in the rollers, all this difliculty is obviated'and the. roller moves true in its guides. Furthermore, if

for any reason in the construction of the Copies of this atent may be obtained for and fro in said casing and engaged by said-1 roller against skewing. V H Y 2. 1 In door-op'eratlng mechanism, the com-V latch-member, and means for holding said bination witha car-body, of a downwardly l: swinging door, a casing secured to the'lower' side of said door, a movable latch-member 1 in said casing, a roller engaging said c'asing and ngagedby said latch-member,'said roller having an annular groove, formed therein, and a' rib on said latch-memberen-i gaging said groove.

In door-operating mechanism, the 'comouter end, a winding-shaft, ailchain-con nected to said latch-member engaging said winding-shaft, a pinion con-said windingshaft, a collar on said pinion having stag-1 gered openings, said shaft having an openiing adaptedto-regi'ster with said openings in said collar, and a'fast'ening device en Q gaging said openingsfi In testimony. whereof, Ithe'said Himnr T,; ANnnnsoN have hereunto set my hand.- HARRY A DEnso WVitnesses: I 1 i I V ROBT, D. To'r'rnN,

YJOHN F. -WILL.

five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of 1atents, Washington, D.:C., I i I I v c 45 p bination with a car-body, of'a downwardly I swinging door, a casingcsecured tothe lower 1 sideof said door, a movable"latchqnember in, said casing having a rack-faceat .thfe' V 

